Ezekiel Elliott leads Bullock County youth football camp

UNION SPRINGS, Ala. (WSFA) - An NFL player not from the state of Alabama was in Union Springs on Thursday for a youth football camp.

Free agent running back Ezekiel Elliott was the special invited guest at the Hornets Nation 2023 Football Camp at Bullock County High School.

“It’s been great, man, it’s been great. You got a lot of kids out here picking my brain about the sport and asking me a lot of questions. I think the biggest thing is just being out here and being able to interact with them and just kind of giving them some hope,” Elliott said.

Joseph Johnson is a native of Union Springs. He currently lives in Texas and is the CEO of Ultimate Protection Security Services, LLC. Elliott has been a client of Johnson’s for four years.

“So I met Joseph a couple of years ago. He’s from Union Springs, and he was telling me about how it’s a small community, so you don’t get a lot of people coming out here,” Elliott said.

“Home is home, so I’m in a position to come home and give back, and you know, I’ve been blessed to meet some amazing people to come back and share my experience,” Johnson said.

“We talked about this camp last year, and when I asked him about it, he didn’t hesitate. He said hey, next summer, we will make it happen.”

Thursday, the Hornets staff and Joseph made it happen. Over 100 kids from Union Springs got to meet and work with Elliott.

“This is the only camp that Ezekiel hosted in 2023, so it was a blessing for him to choose the kids in our community,” Union Springs Mayor Roderick Clark said.

“It means everything to give back to our youth. The youth is our future, and they’re going to be the leaders in the next thirty years, and so we got to pour all we can into them,” Elliott said.

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